ENGINE VEIN COPPER MINE

Copper mine, first historical reference in 1708, closed in 1879, the site of Engine Vein opencast copper mine on Alderley Edge. The site retains evidence of a variety of mining techniques, dating back to the Bronze Age. The eastern half of the site consists of an opencast about 15 metres deep, the floor of which has been capped with concrete. This trench bisected several shallow pits of Bronze Age date, formed by miners using stone hammers to extract the copper nodules. A bisected shaft is visible at SJ 86077747, representing Roman or possibly medieval workings. Examples of further hand picking dating from the medieval period to the 18th century can also be seen, along with evidence for extraction by blasting, which took place from 1857.

Old mine-workings for copper have been identified at Engine Vein (SJ 8605 7748), Brindlow (c. SJ 855 773), Stormy Point (SJ 8611 7784), in Windmill Wood quarry (SJ 8550 7760) and at Saddlebole (SJ 8604 7810), but only at Brindlow were they undisturbed by later workings. They were open workings and a large number of grooved stone hammers have been recovered either from the pits or their tips. The hammers (illustrated in 1) were first assigned c. 1874, to the Bronze Age by Professor Boyd Dawkins, but later because an oak shovel (illustrated in 3) and an iron pick were found in association with hammers (the shovel at an unspecified spot between 1876 and 1878, and the pick at Engine Vein c. 1904) were considered Romano-British.

Oliver Davies considers that there was pre-Roman mining at Alderley Edge, citing stone picks with terminal rills and a shapely ovoid stone pick in Chester Museum as prehistoric tools, though he says the "rough rilled hammers" are "probably of recent date". He is non-committal on Roman mining there.

The first historical reference to mining at Alderley Edge is in 1708, but earlier activity is shown by the identification at Saddlebole of a 'bole' ( a smelting hearth with wind draught only, which in Derbyshire mining dates to 16th/17th c.), and an ore-crushing Windmill at the west side of Windmill Wood(a). The mines were finally closed in 1879. (1-4)

There are numerous old shafts, drifts and levels in the area, including open workings at the places mentioned. The area is heavily wooded. Mr. Petch reports that of the two 'hammer-stones' in the Grosvenor Museum, one is probably no more than a glacial erratic, and the other appears to be a medieval clod-breaker. (5)

At Brynlow there is evidence of minor surface quarrying. The area is grass covered and the age of the quarrying could not be deduced. A grooved hammer-stone, similar to those illustrated by Roeder, (one of Davies' rough rilled hammers), was found during investigation at SJ 8613 7786. It was lying among debris below the Stormy Point mines. See sketch. (6)

Additional reference. (7)

SJ 86037748. The site of Engine Vein opencast copper mine on Alderley Edge. The site retains evidence of a variety of mining techniques, dating back to the Bronze Age. The eastern half of the site consists of an opencast about 15 metres deep, the floor of which has been capped with concrete. This trench bisected several shallow pits of Bronze Age date, formed by miners using stone hammers to extract the copper nodules. A bisected shaft is visible at SJ 86077747, representing Roman or possibly medieval workings. Examples of further hand picking dating from the medieval period to the 18th century can also be seen, along with evidence for extraction by blasting, which took place from 1857. There are also 3 shaft heads, now sealed by locked covers, within the site. One of these is known as 'Pot Shaft' and has Roman workings below ground. The western half of the site is partly infilled by eroded material from the pit sides. At the eastern end are 2 large spoil heaps. On the lip of the south east end of the opencast is an excavated pit leading down into a mine entrance, now sealed with a steel door. Some hand picking and blasted surfaces above this entrance can be dated to 1957, when the TA attacked the site with explosives, pickaxes, crow bars and spades. Scheduled. (8)